The ultimate nightmare: being trapped in some sicko psycho’s taxi cab and no one knows you’re there. With things like Facebook’s check-in feature and Foursquare, something that allows women to check into a cab and simultaneously register the car number and driver information should not be light years away. If you’re working on a solution such as this, please let us know.

And it sounds like someone is. Take this quick 10 question survey and hold your breath for something on the market soon. It takes less than 30 seconds and will let its creators know that we want it! CAB SAFETY SURVEY

In the meantime, please help Hollaback collect some information on this subject by sharing your taxi cab experiences in the comment section here.

2 Responses

I have been stuck in the back of a perv’s taxi cab and the experience still haunts me. Spending the summer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I often sought refuge from the streets by hoping into the back of a taxi cab, creating what I realize now was a false sense of security. To my knowledge, none of the cabs in Buenos Aires have a partition separating the driver and passenger like the cabs in New York City, and while this had probably subconsciously crossed my mind a time or two, I had never really thought much into it. So when I headed off to an early evening work meeting, getting into probably the 50th taxi cab I had taken with a male cab driver and the absence of a partition, I wasn’t really bothered or concerned. After giving the cross streets of my destination, the driver immediately recognized my accent and began speaking to me in broken, basic English. I politely responded to some of his questions, but spent the rest of the 30 minute drive in silence. My thoughts were elsewhere, but I was aware of his few glances at me in the rearview mirror, that I just wrote off as his attempt to muster up a conversation to practice speaking English again. After coming to a stop in front of my workplace, I gave him the money for the fare and as he handed the change back to me he positioned his body so that he was facing me, making me feel very uncomfortable. Yet as I didn’t want to make myself a target on the street with my money out, I stalled for a second as I quickly fumbled to put my money back in my change purse. That’s when I realized why he positioned his body to face me. I dreadfully looked to the left, to seem him waving his flaccid penis around, and caught the smile on his face as he asked, “Quieres mirar?” [Do you want to watch] My heart was racing and my hands were shaking as I frantically stumbled out of the taxi. Despite finally creating that lacking partition between the two of us by slamming the door shut, I still had the pressing feeling that he wasn’t done with me, and I helplessly scurried across the busy street to the door of my workplace. When I reached the door, I turned around to see that he had already driven off.

The emotions to follow were almost as bad as the experience itself. I hadn’t had time to process the situation, as I immediately told the story to my female, American co-worker before the meeting. While she acted somewhat sympathetic that it had happened, the way she eyed me and skeptically questioned me about what it was that I had been doing in the cab, made me realize without a doubt that she thought it was my fault. Throughout the entire meeting, while I knew it wasn’t my fault, I felt dirty and ashamed that I was so naïve to not know that something was going to happen to me, and overcome with guilt that I was too scared to at least get his cab number before he drove away. Now back in New York, I am appreciative of the partition separating me from the driver, but still feel nervous and almost powerless as I continue to put the events of my life at the mercy of taxi cab drivers. The phone apps, where women can report their location and cab information will be a great aid, and even a push for a required ticket with cab information in the back of every taxi cab that someone can easily tear off at the beginning of each ride would encourage incidents to be reported and justice to be served.

I’ve had taxi drivers try to hit on me (including twisting around and leering while they were supposed to be watching the road) and seen some hitting women who had been in their cabs. I don’t take them if I have other options.